Sky's the limit for well-prepared Sutton

CHRIS Sutton willingly missed the the traditional early season racing in Australia he would normally revel in.

As the season started with the Bay Cycling Classic and continued with the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, which finishes on Sunday, the Sydneysider has been happy to stay off the radar and keep one eye on bigger things.

Sutton flew to Adelaide on Friday with his British Sky teammate Geraint Thomas to scout out some of the stages of the January 22-27 Tour Down Under.

Sutton and Thomas are part of Sky's core group for the big one-day April classics, such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, and they follow a similar training regime.

However, by training for the Tour Down Under, Sutton is also priming himself for the Australian road championships in Victoria. The event starts on Wednesday with time trials at Ballarat and ends next Sunday with the 195.6-kilometre elite men's road race in which Sutton could be a dark horse and will have Sky teammates Richie Porte and Mathew Hayman to help him.

''It's a long season and as much as you want to be absolutely flying and ripping people's legs off in January, to hold that form until April is a long ask,'' Sutton said. ''But if I am flying and I can win a stage at Down Under or win the national title, I will be more than happy to take it.''

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However, after recovering from a back injury and facing a long and full season ahead, the 28-year-old is cautious about overestimating his chances in a race almost 200 kilometres long.

''Every year you go there with high expectations, but you can only do what you can on the day,'' Sutton said. ''You have to have a pretty good day on that [race] circuit to be in the front group.

''I have done everything that I possibly can. Last year was difficult with my back injury. But coming back from the injury, I have done all I can to make sure I am ready - and that's not just for nationals and Down Under, but also for the season leading into Paris-Roubaix.''

Few would underestimate Sutton, who is a fighter as his 2011 Vuelta a Espana stage win showed when he took it in a scrappy bunch finish that took as much guile as speed to win.

In last year's nationals - which was a shorter race but included more laps of the tough Buninyong circuit - Sutton figured strongly and was a whisker shy of making the winning three-man break.

''I was pretty active. I think I still had some form [from the 2011 Vuelta],'' Sutton said.

''I surprised myself a little bit then, yeah. I was climbing well and still had a bit of punch there.

''But I just stuck to the training program Sky gave me, and I am doing the same again now.''

Sutton is uncertain if the course change will hinder or help him. ''Whereas before we have gone up the [circuit's main] climb 16 times, we are now going up it 14 times, but we have 40 kilometres more,'' he said.

''So in January doing just under 200 kilometres is still going to be hard no matter what compared to 160 kilometres. It will be interesting to see how the race goes.

''A breakaway could go and stick this year, but Orica-GreenEDGE are still the team to watch.''